Negotiating in Life, Negotiating Tips, Negotiation Strategies, Business Negotiation October 8, 2010

Negotiation: How to probe effectively.

In any business negotiation, information is power. The more information you have, the better your position. Getting more information from the other party is always a challenge. In order to extract information, you’ll have to probe effectively.

There are several probing methods, but we will talk about two. First is the “what if” or "would you consider" technique.

Dr. Chester L. Karrass writes: “Few approaches to bargaining yield as much information and opportunity for win-win negotiations as the ‘what-if’ technique.’”

To use the “what if” or "would you consider" technique, you have to add some creativity. You are going to be presenting the other party with some scenarios. Here are a few examples:

* What if we give you a three-year contract? or Would you consider a three-year contract?

* What if we modify the specifications? or Would you consider changing the specifications?

* What if we buy your entire line of products? or Would you consider purchasing our entire line?

* What if we pay in cash? or Would you consider paying cash?

* What if we provide our own shipping? or Would you consider using your own trucks?

By using what-if scenarios (or would-you-consider), you are probing into the other party’s motivations, and acquiring insight that would have otherwise not been available. In some cases, what ifs can lead to unanticipated trade-offs.

Another useful technique is called the “planning purpose trap.” It is fairly simple and works like this: the buyer tells the seller that “for planning purposes” he/she need an idea of what a product/service will cost in the future, and emphasizes that it can be a ballpark estimate. The seller then makes a quick estimate, which often tends to be on the low side, to keep the buyer interested. The seller has now made it very hard to increase the price later, but has also revealed a cost that is does not have lots of padding.

There are several other ways to probe—just make sure you are getting the information you need without shutting down the other party.

What techniques have you used to obtain valuable information in a business negotiation?